Keshav wasn’t exactly pleased to see Sandhanam walking around the headquarters so carefree, but he found it much harder to digest seeing him walk into the interrogation room. Nevertheless, he kept quiet and walked back to the observation room to meet the DG and report his interrogation. He knew well they had watched the whole scene play out through the camera, but he was still going to be questioned on what happened.

As he reached for the door, a constable suddenly ran into him full force. ‘What the hell? Why are you in such a hurry?’ Keshav asked.

‘I am really sorry, sir. Please forgive me!’ the constable replied, his knees appeared to be shivering.

‘It’s alright. Now, are you going to tell me why you are in a hurry? Or is it only for DG’s ears?’

‘It is about the girl. Two of the witnesses confessed to lying,’ the constable replied.

‘What!?’ Keshav exclaimed. Suddenly, a lot more questions popped up than his previous questions getting answered.

‘Add to the video…’

‘Wait. What video?’ Keshav interrupted.

‘The Lady was seen in Vellure this morning. A video was presented as evidence,’ the constable replied.

‘Who presented the video?’ Keshav asked.

‘ADG Raghuram sir did. Sir, I really need to go inside!’ the constable pleaded.

‘Just one more thing. Did anyone come for the girl?’

‘Yes! They are in the waiting room,’ the constable said.

The constable rushed into the room leaving Keshav pondering to himself. It appeared to him that the girl was not the Lady, something even he began to believe was true. He shook his head in disbelief before walking towards the waiting room.

***

‘This is ridiculous,’ Prakash said in seething rage. ‘Who interrogated the witnesses?’

‘It was Raghuram Sir,’ replied the constable. There was terror in his voice.

‘When did he come? And why is he even here?’

‘He arrived just half an hour ago. He had an order to confirm if the witnesses were legitimate. After fifteen minutes, two of them confessed that they were paid to be lied.’

Prakash was left speechless. He had everything planned out, to the point where he was ready to take some risks, to close the trap shut. But now, things have been going sideways.

‘That is not all, sir. Friends… or colleagues I think… of the girl are making a ruckus outside. They are demanding the reasons for the girls arrest and also to see her.’

***

‘Sir. I am speaking to with the utmost politeness, but you have so far given me no reason to be so polite,’ said the elderly lady.

Things were getting really tense. Policemen from the station were gathering around them, some of whom even started shouting at them. But their manager showed no sign of backing down. Karthik and Jai had their hearts in their throats as they felt the situation turn against them. It has been the same ever since they had arrived. The police tried all possible means to throw them out, going so far as to threatening them with arrest. It wasn’t until their manager, Vaishali, arrived; did they manage to turn the tide around.

They had been talking to the clerk at the station’s waiting hall, trying to get some answers but the clerk had been deflecting their questions with some, rather resentful words.

‘Stop it,’ an old policeman said as he walked over to them, ‘do you think this is a fish market?’

Vaishali turned to the policeman and said very politely, ‘sir, I am just trying to get some answ..’

‘Shut up! Speak another word and I will book you for obstruction of justice and throw all of you in the cell. Now get out!’ he said, with fierce eyes.

Just as he completed his threat, a gentleman looking police officer walked over to them, catching the attention of all the four. He placed his hand on the old man’s shoulder and said, ‘making false charges in public, just like that? Don’t you know that is serious offense?’

The old man nervously laughed and said, ‘sir… they were making nuisance, so I had to calm them down.’

‘That was trying to calm us…?’ Jai said through his teeth.

‘Go now and don’t you set foot in the waiting room again,’ the gentleman instructed.

The old man saluted and hurriedly left the room.

Vaishali turned to the officer and looked at him with hopeful eyes, ‘Sir, what is going on here? We just came for our friend, and they are threatening us?’

‘I am guessing you are here for Monica?’ the officer asked.

They nodded.

‘My name is Keshav. Don’t worry, she is safe and if the news we just got is true, she would be out of here in no time. But before that I would like to ask a few things about her, if you don’t mind,’ the officer said.

***

Prakash broke a cold sweat hearing the news. He felt a surge of anger and fear, something he rarely felt in his time as a policeman. When you are friends with people in power, you can happily make things go right no matter what the situation you are in. However, the tides were slowly turning. His powerful friends were no longer powerful, and he found himself swimming in a sea of sharks all alone. He suddenly realized that he never really learned how to swim and now was grasping onto threads of those who remained for his own survival.

He had retreated to his cabin and waited for Sandhanam to arrive. This kind of stress did not do him good. Perhaps he should have retired when he had the chance to.

Eventually Sandhanam did arrive, to find the DG sitting at his desk with his head in his hands. ‘DG, what the hell is going on?’

Prakash looked up to Sandhanam standing before him. He expected him to be furious, but instead looked just as concerned as him. ‘Answer me first. Did the two witnesses really see that girl change into the Lady?’

Sandhanam did not answer. He instead looked away with guilt ridden face.

‘Seriously?’ Prakash said getting up from his chair.

‘What difference does it make?’ Sandhanam replied.

‘It makes all the difference. They confessed! They confessed that they lied. And I put everything I had believing you.’

Sandhanam looked at him in complete shock, ‘what are you saying?’

‘Yes. Everything is falling apart. I cannot hold it together anymore.’

‘You are useless. Why would my men suddenly confess? Who the fuck interrogated them?’ Sandhanam asked seething through his teeth.

‘May I come in sir?’ a voice interrupted.

Sandhanam looked back to see a senior officer standing at the door. He quietly observed the face of the officer as he walked in. He seemed to remember him from way back. The officer, meanwhile, threw a casual glance at him before turning back towards the DG.

‘Yes, Raghuram. I heard you had arrived. What is it you are here for?’ Prakash asked.

‘My team has been closely watching the movements of the Lady for some time. We learnt of her appearance in the city of Vellure last night. But today morning I got the news that a suspect was arrested, so I was asked to come here. At the same time, I asked a few officers in Vellure to investigate and they indeed found the Lady today morning,’ Raghuram said. He pulled out his phone and began tapping on the screen. A moment later he showed the video on his phone to Prakash.

There was no doubt about it, the girl in the video was dressed exactly as people described. She was caught on camera jumping over the rooftops of the building before seemingly punching someone into the air.

‘Sir, I believe someone is trying to divert us. We do not know why yet. I think the report has reached you regarding the witnesses as well. We will try and trace who hired them, but for now we can rest assure that the girl in custody is not related to the Lady,’ Raghuram added.

Prakash’s face was frozen in shock. Nevertheless, when Raghuram completed his theory, he nodded and said, ‘but who would be this?’

‘We just as clueless about that as you are. My theory… the Lady might have managed to trigger someone powerful, and they are using this girl to trap her.’

Prakash’s instinct was to respond as if it were a good thing. But luckily, he held his tongue back this time. Instead, he quietly nodded in approval.

‘And I hope you don’t mind. But we will be transferring the girl over to my station. We have a few questions for her and want to keep tabs on her,’ Raghuram said.

‘By all means. Go ahead,’ Prakash replied.

“Thank you, sir,’ Raghuram replied before doing a salute and then promptly left the room.

Prakash felt like he could breathe a sigh of relief, but Sandhanam intervened and said, ‘you idiot. You are going to get us both into big trouble.’

‘What you mean?’ Prakash asked.

‘They get their hands on her and the witnesses, they will find a way to me. And then you.’

Prakash’s heart froze. In a moment of respite, he seemed to have forgotten the bigger picture. ‘What do we do?’

‘Kill her,’ Sandhanam replied.

Prakash quietly stared at him with a horrid expression.

‘What? Kill her. All the men in this building are your men, right? Anyone of them can pull the trigger. Kill the girl and if she is the Lady, we kill two birds with one stone,’ Sandhanam said.

Prakash did not respond. He appeared to be visibly shaken at the prospect of having a murder in his station.

‘No?’ Sandhanam asked shaking his head. His cold gaze cut through Prakash’s fear-stricken heart. ‘Coward.’

***

Monica had lost track of time sitting in the isolated interrogation room. They took all her belongings, including her watch that was capable of connecting to her phone, leaving her just to her thoughts. Fortunately, she had a lot to think about.

She began by recalling all the times when she had used her powers out in public. It was quite a long list, each with a story of its own. She began evaluating each one, wondering how many times she put herself in danger and how many times she came close to exposing herself. With each passing thought, she burdened herself more and more with questions and reasons. After everything, she was ultimately left with the question, was it worth it? Did her actions mean anything?

Her chest grew heavy, and sadness flooded her heart. Drops of tears formed at the corners of her eyes as she tried to hold them back. She took in a deep breath, telling herself repeatedly, ‘it is okay. Everything will be okay.’

Her heart calmed a little, though not by much. Her anxiety was still at its peak. Looking around the room, she began to feel like its grey walls were closing in. But as her nerves calmed down, they slowly began to retreat, giving her some peace.

She did not know how much time had passed when the door finally opened again. Kamal stood at the entrance and looked at Monica. He had a calm look on his face, neither happy nor tensed. ‘Monica? Please come with me.’

She stood up and asked, ‘can you please tell me what is going on?’

‘Don’t worry. You are free… almost. We will explain in detail,’ he replied.

She threw a puzzled look at him before quietly following him out the room. He led her through the dull grey basement before emerging up the stairs into the evening sunlight. Monica’s arms shivered a little. She folded them up into a tight embrace while looking at the policemen around her, whose eyes were fixed on her.

As they walked through the winding corridors, her eyes constantly looked around her, searching for an old man. The man who threatened to pull her life apart. But he was nowhere to be seen. They eventually reached a large open room. Kamal pointed her to the entrance before turning around and leaving the way they came.

Monica walked cautiously, not sure what to expect, but she quickly relaxed on seeing familiar faces. An elderly woman got up and jolted over to her. She embraced Monica and said, ‘Monica! Glad to see you are safe!’

It quickly dawned on her that the elderly woman was her new manager. ‘I am doing good, ma’am.’

She let Monica go and said with a big smile, ‘please. Call me Vaishali.’

Along with her were her two colleagues and a couple of officers. She recognized the one standing before her office boys but felt a little intimidated by his expressionless face. Keshav walked up to them and said, ‘sorry to cut your celebration short, but our ADG Raghuram would like to see you.’

‘Right,’ Vaishali replied.

She and Keshav accompanied Monica to the table that sat in the left most corner of the room.

At the table was an aged man who was not in his police uniform. He had a calm expression on his face which was covered with wrinkles and freckles. He had a well-trimmed moustache and a clean shave. His mostly black hair was littered with white hair which didn’t seem to bother him. He appeared to be writing down something but stopped and looked up when he noticed the girl had arrived.

‘Monica, right?’ he said as he got up.

Monica nodded and said, ‘yes sir.’

He extended his hand which Monica accepted with a little hesitancy. ‘My name is Raghuram. Please, take a seat.’

The two women occupied the chair across the table from ADG while Keshav took a step back and observed from behind.

Raghuram quietly observed Monica for a moment before saying, ‘I hope they weren’t too harsh on you. You seem shaken.’

‘No. They weren’t that rude. It is just that… I was arrested…’ Monica asked.

‘Sir, if I may,’ Vaishali said, ‘how did this happen? I mean, how was such an accusation made?’

‘It was because two witnesses showed up at a police station in Nyzam claiming to have seen the real face of the Lady. When the artist produced a sketch based on their description, it somewhat matched her appearance. Later an actual photo of her was shown to the two of them and they confirmed it was her.’

Vaishali’s jaw dropped on hearing that. It was hard enough to believe such a wild accusation was made, but now it felt a lot more real than it should have. ‘So… these witnesses…’

‘They were fake,’ he said interrupting.

Vaishali breathed a sigh of relief.

‘Which explains why they were able to identify the girl so quickly and so secretively. Then again, I think they just picked the first face they matched and ran with it. It must have helped them that you had a criminal record on you,’ he explained.

‘But why?’ Monica asked. ‘Or who would want to do this?’

His lips twisted as he shook his head. ‘We do not know. There appears to be a long chain of clients who ultimately hired the two witnesses. But that is for us to investigate and nothing for you to worry about.’

Monica would have liked to disagree. But she instead kept mum and lowered her gaze.

‘So, what happens now?’ Vaishali asked.

‘We will need her back at my station. I have been given duty to look after her for the moment. From there we can decide on how to proceed next,’ he said.

‘So, wait. She is not free to go?’ Vaishali asked.

‘She is free. We don’t have any case against her. But it is those that started this whole ordeal that is the problem. They might come after her, so we have to keep her safe. Same goes for you and your colleagues. Make sure to keep an eye out. We will have policemen who can attend to you if needed. And please, keep safe.’

Monica felt darkness grip her heart. Her nerves shivered at the thought of what was to come.